Page 46 of Stone Vows

“No. Two weeks, Kyle. Today marks the two week point from having the baby. I’m thirty-five weeks today.”

I flip through the chart. “So you are. That’s good, you know. Even if the baby came today it would have an excellent chance of being perfectly healthy.”

She nods. “I know. I read that in my book. But I’d just as soon have it stay where it is for the next few weeks. I can’t take any chances with his or her health.” She looks at me wearily. “That’s okay, isn’t it? Do you think the hospital wants me to have it early so they don’t have to pay more for my stay?”

“That’s ridiculous. Everyone here wants you to get as close to term as possible. Don’t worry about any of that other stuff. You haven’t mentioned your pro bono status to Dr. Redman, have you?”

She shakes her head and furrows her eyebrows. “I just assumed everyone knew, like it was in my chart or something.”

“No. Your chart has no billing information in it.”

“You mean to tell me you went over your boss’s head to get me in?” she asks playfully.

“I didn’t need her approval either way, I just submitted it to the committee. But best not mention it to her, you know how she can be.”

“It makes sense now that I think about it,” she says. “Everyone up here treats me like a paying customer, not some moocher off the streets like that nurse did my first time in the ER.”

“Everyone deserves to be treated the same, Elizabeth, regardless of their financial status or ability to pay.”

“Sadly, not everyone shares your philosophy, Kyle.”

“Well, theneveryonecan take their misplaced righteousness and shove it up their tight narcissistic asses.”

She giggles. “Why, Dr. Stone, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak so harshly.”

“Sorry, it just makes me angry. In my book, everyone is just one unfortunate circumstance—”

“—away from being in someone else’s shoes,” she finishes my sentence.

I cock my head to the side and study her.

She laughs. “Mallory pretty much told me that’s your motto.”

“Did she now?”

“She came for another visit last night. So did your friend, Piper Mitchell.”

“Busy day, was it?”

“Yes, but Nurse Ratched didn’t let either of them take me for a walk because I was bleeding the day before yesterday. But I haven’t so much as spotted in over twenty-four hours. Can you get me out of here for a while? Please?”

I page through her chart, looking at the notes that cover the last thirty-six hours when I wasn’t on duty.

“It says here you experienced bright-red blood over the period of about six hours. They did a blood draw. Results look normal. Ultrasound was good. And you say no bleeding since?”

“Nope, none.” She looks proud, like it’s an accomplishment she had control over. “Please, Kyle. I’m going stir crazy. There is only so much baseball I can watch. A lot of the games aren’t even televised, I just have to wait for highlights. And I’ve read five books since Baylor came to visit. That’s five books in less than four days, Kyle. I need fresh air. I need to smell lavender. I need to eat Jell-O. Please?”

So many things are running through my head right now. Things like how I should get a nurse to escort her to the courtyard. Things like how I should turn around and walk out of this room. Things like how I can remember every detail of her face when we walked into the gardens last week and she smelled those purple flowers. Things like how her piercing blue eyes are begging me to take her.

And I know that, despite all the reasons I shouldn’t, I’ll say yes anyway.

I put down her chart. “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll find you a wheelchair.”

She claps her hands like an excited school girl. “Oh, thank you!”

When I return a few minutes later with a wheelchair, I see she’s removed the strap from the fetal monitor, turned the machine off, and put on her robe. I admonish her with my stare.

“What?” she says. “Abby taught me how to work the monitor. It was always slipping off me. It’s just easier if I know how to do it myself.”

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